It’s the final day of classes at Kansas University.

But for most students it’s just the beginning of the end.

“I’m glad that school is going to be over. It just sucks that you have to cram for finals,” says Darci Donovan, a Chanute junior.

Donovan sits on a concrete partition at 2 p.m. on Wescoe Beach as dozens of other students mingle around in the 80-degree sunny weather.

She has to attend her American Sign Language class before she could fully focus on her four final exams. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel.

“Summer,” she says. “Being done with school and not having to worry about school any more.”

Others are working on taking their minds off the exams that loomed the next week.

“What are you doing tonight?” one student shouted to another near the Danforth Chapel as a KU on Wheels bus roars by.

Over at Oread Avenue, the deck of The Crossing, 618 W. 12th St., is already full at 2:30 p.m. with students toasting their final class of the academic year.